Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kyle Turris stepped onto the ice at the Phoenix Coyotes’ practice Tuesday and took his first strides as an NHL player….

Centering the Coyotes’ most skilled forwards, Turris flew up and down the ice, dispensing passes, finding lanes and roofing the puck by goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Mueller looked skyward. (“That’s why he was drafted third over all,” he said later.)

Off the ice, a beaming veteran of one NHL practice, Turris faced his first NHL media scrum. “It’s a mix of emotion,” he said, “from losing in the final 8 to the next morning, I’m talking here, and the next night I’m in here. It’s been crazy. I’m so excited I can’t even talk right now.”